1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an application for authoring a voice or text message on a communications device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a unified authoring interface for a communication device that allows both audio and text input without the user explicitly selecting the mode of communication, such that delivery of the message can then be optimized.
2. The Relevant Technology
The popularity of all types of communication devices, such as mobile telephones and telephony-enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs) is undeniable. In addition to circuit-switched and packet-switched voice sessions, numerous messaging applications, such as Email, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages, and Instant Messaging (IM) are available today on a wide variety of mobile communication devices. Also, services that assist users with information and updates, such as stock quotes, news alerts and driving directions, or services that improve personal productivity or provide customer services, can all be accessed and engaged via mobile communication devices. Furthermore, applications and services that deliver media content or other types of entertainment and are accessible via mobile communication devices are increasingly popular.
While applications and services that can be accessed via a mobile device deliver significant value to users, enhanced messaging services and the large modality of different ways of communicating (picture messaging, voice messaging, text messaging) have made these devices more complicated, inhibiting their use. It is well known in the art of user interface design that each additional step required for a user to reach an objective diminishes the chance the user will complete the task.
Mobile phones started out as very simple devices from a usability standpoint. The user merely entered the number and pushed the TALK key—an experience familiar to almost everyone. With the advent of SMS Messaging, the user could leave a text message for another user with a mobile phone. This additional option of authoring and sending a text message is now well understood and widely adopted in the mobile phone industry. Over the past few years, additional services have been introduced to allow users to author audio messages or picture messages and exchange them with other users. These technologies are seeing broader adoption, but the interface for selecting between messaging technologies is now much more complicated, which restricts their use.
To allow the user to choose between these various options, the communications devices have become much more complicated. Instead of simply selecting a recipient and selecting “message” rather than “talk”, the user must now select what kind of message is to be sent: a text, audio, or picture message. This is typically done from a menu, since devices do not have dedicated keys for these operations. This has increased the complexity of messaging from one key press to two or more, a 100% or more increase in complexity. In many situations, and for frequent users who desire “rapid-fire” communications, this extra key-press inhibits use.
These new technologies have introduced the richness of communicating through a wide variety of means at the expense of simplicity. What is needed is a user interface that retains access to the rich communications without the added complexity of additional keys or button clicks.